So far this is just a collection of cuttings....please add stuff if you have anything....These are more of the general area than limited to our project, but practices are the same, and cheeses travelled far and wide from our farms.
There are lots of questions eg
What were the vessels made out of?
What was used to clean them after use?
Where were the cheeses kept to mature?
How long were they stored before sale?
What did they do with the whey?
Who supplied rennet?
Could farmers make cheese on the Sabbath?
The green grass of Ayrshire and the development of the Ayrshire breed of cow was ideal for cheese production. Cows calved in the springtime and fed on the lush grass to produce a flush of milk that could not be transported to centres of population in it's natural condition in time for it to remain fresh. Cheese and butter then were a convenient, if labour intensive, use and successful showing and marketing strategies brought the Ayrshire farmer profits in abundance. Industry developed around the manufacturing process until today, where we see large scale creameries have replaced the small farm producer, with some artisan cheese makers beginning to emerge as the unique qualities of the Ayrshire methods are recognised by an increasingly discerning market.
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| Public Ledger and Daily Advertiser January 1817 |
The Cheese Cadger
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| Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald August 1873 |
Was this the last cheese cadger of New Cumnock? There were cheese dealers, but none of them used the original term for their occupation, which had fallen into misuse. We think of a cadger, as a scrounger, and it was a surprise to find out that it had been a well respected form of employment.
A recipe for Dunlop cheese
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| From Wikipedia |
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| Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald November 1888 |
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Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald November 1888
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The Kilmarnock Cheese Show of 1892
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| Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald |
Every farmer kept a record of what was sold from the farm.
This is from Morag Gordon from James Shankland, her grandfather’s book.
To give an idea of production, 21 cwt is 1066kg, for which he made 65 pounds and 7 shillings. £65.35p
And medals were won....
At Auchingilsie, Hugh Wilson in 1873.
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| 1940s Changue Farm |
This was set up for a farm open day and shows us all the constituent parts of the cheese process.
The warmed whole milk would be put in the vessel on the left, and the rennet starter added. When the curds formed they would be cut into small cubes and the whey extraction process begun.
You can see the cheese cloths set out on the shelf above the window, and bottles of rennet.
Also on the top shelf appears to be a shovel for gathering up the curds, and maybe a curd cutter? The buckets with the handles would be lined with cheese cloth, curds put in, then pressed in the cheese presses. You can see the pans under the presses to catch the drips.
For a fresh curd cheese like Mozzarella, you would now boil the balls of curd for a minute or so, and eat straight away. In some processes, the formed wheels are then brined, to form the outer rind, then stored to mature, but the next stage for Ayrshire cheese we need you folks to tell us!
Where were the cheeses stored then?
